Furnace feeding apparatus.



No. 724,377; PATENTED MAR. 31, 1903- 0.- w. BRAY. FURNACE FEEDINGAPPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. '7. 1902.-

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wrrugssgs No. 724,377. PATENTED MAR. 31, 1903. v0. W. BRAY. FURNACEFEEDING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 7. 1902. v

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' CHARLES W. BRAY, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICANTIN PLATE COMPANY, OF ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, A COR- PORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

FURNACE FEEDING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 724,377, dated March31, 1903.

Application filed November 7, 1902. h'erial No. 130,423. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. BRAY,'Of Pittsburg, Allegheny county,Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Furnace Feeding Apparatus,of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved furnacefeeding apparatus. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the same, andFig. 3 is a detail cross-section showing the supports for the plates andholding-rods.

My invention relates to an improvement upon the furnace feedingapparatusdescribed and claimed in an application filed by me on March 12, 1902,Serial No.' 97,823, and I show said apparatus in the present drawingswith my improvement applied thereto. It should be understood, however,that the improvement mayibe applied to furnace feeding apparatus ofother construction.

As described in my said application, I show in the drawings a continuousheating-furnace 2, which may be one of a series, of which there may beany desired number. The furnace has a feeding-opening 3 andexit-openings 4:, connected by suitable supports 5, upon which the rowof plates rest as they are pushed forward. I preferably incline thesupports 5 at an angle to the horizontal, either upwardly or downwardly,preferably the latter, as shown in Fig. 2, in order to prevent one plateclimbing upon the next as the rowis pushed forward by the enteringplate.

' In front of each feed-opening I mount an.

inclined table 6 upon side supports 7' 7, and tothis table areadjustably bolted side guides 8 8, between which the plates are piled,as indicated at 9 in Fig; 2. The guides are provided in front withinwardly-projecting flanges 10, which hold the plates in place, theseflanges terminating above the platform to allow one or more of the lowerplates to be forced forwardly.

The table is provided with longitudinal slots, through which projectpush-fingers 11, pivotally mounted upon a sliding plate 12, movingwithin guides 13 at its side edges. This plate is reciprocated bya linkconnection 14, with a rocking lever 15 trunnioned at 16 and pivotallyconnected at its lower end with an eccentric-rod 17, extending from aneccentric-strap 18. The eccentric 19 for the lever loosely surrounds acommon shaft 20 and may be connected with the shaft by means of a clutch21. This clutch is normally held in unlocked position by a spring 22 andis of'the form known as a pinclutch, which will automatically disengageitself after one revolution. The actuatingcord for each clutch extendsover suitable guide-pulleys 23 to an operators pulpit.

In order to hold down the plate as it is fed along the table, I providein front of each feed mechanism bent fingers 24, the stems of whichextend up and are adj ustably secured to a U-shaped cross-bar 25. Theend legs of this cross-bar are' pivoted to the outer sides of the guides8, as shown at 26, and the fingers are yieldingly held in the positionshown in Fig. 2 by means of the transverse angle 27, connected at eachend to arms 28, pivoted to the sides of the guides at 29. Thetensionsprings 30 act normally to draw the fingers forward, leaving aspace between them and the table of a thickness equal to the thicknessof the plate or set of plates to be fed.

It is of, great importance in-the feeding of the plates through thefurnace that they shall be prevented from mounting upon each other atany part of their course and that the forward edge of each plate be keptflush with the rear edge of the preceding plate with which it is incontact, and it is to this that To effect this result,

my invention relates. I employ rods 31, secured in front of the chargingend of the furnace, preferably to a portion of the guides 8, by a linkconnection 32 above the place of exitof the plates from the guides 8 andextending above the supports 5 entirely across the furnace or as fartherein as may be desired. These rods are preferably vertically abovethe supports 5 and are preferably free at their ends within the furnace,so that they are flexible, and being free to expand and contract do notwarp or become misshapen. As the plates are moved through the furnace onthe supports 5the rods bear upon them by gravity and hold them .down, sothat all occupy a single plane and each is prevented from climbingupon'the preceding plate. Metal rods of about one and one-half (1%)inches diameter will answer for this purpose or, if desired, I may usehollow rods or pipes through which streams of water may be maintained,and by fastening the rods or pipes at both ends they may be heldrigidly, in which case they would not necessarily act by gravity. Iprefer, however, to use gravityacting rods as being more certain intheir operation and being capable of adjusting themselves to plates ofvarying thickness.

I olaim- 1. A heating-chamber having supports extending within the same,means .for moving plates thereon through the chamber, and holding-rodsextendinglongitudinally of the chamber and over the course of the platesto prevent them from climbing; substantially as described.

2. A heating-chamber having supports extending within the same, meansfor moving plates thereon throughthe chamber, and holding-rods extendingover the course of the plates and bearing upon the plates by gravity toprevent them from climbing; substantially as described.

3. A heating-chamber having supports extending within the same, meansfor moving plates thereon through the chamber, and hold-

